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When can we expect affordable glassless 3D plasmas? I know the obvious answer from everyone is years away, but 3dtvs arent selling as well as expected. The manufacturers know that the reason is because of the glasses. They might ramp up R&D to get glassless tvs out sooner than expected.

I am buying a new tv very soon, either the VX 300 or the Vt40. I am just worried that by buying now would be a bad decision. I dont want to buy a new tv and 2-3 years later glassless 3d being the new standard. How long can we expect before glassless 3d arrives at affordable prices for plasmas?

I had to read your entire post before I realized you were talking about the 3D glasses and not the front glass.

You are asking us to divine the future. Right now the technology for 3D that does not require glasses is pretty weak. It's really only being offered in very small products (Nintendo 3DS) because the technology only works at limited viewing angles. Interest among consumers seems high for the technology but I suspect the TV manufacturers make more off their sales of 3D glasses than they do off the actual panels. Just my suspicion, of course.

All in all, IMHO, that technology is more than a couple years from prime time. But who knows?

Quoted from another site: It's not that much of a surprise that Apple thinks watching 3D content with plastic glasses is dumb.

And the company that's all about sleek, cool and simple has actually been granted a patent on a method of projecting a 3D image that can be perceived properly without glasses.

The system would work like this: each pixel would be projected onto a reflective, textured surface, which is then bounced into a viewer's left and right eye separately, producing the 3D, or stereoscopic, effect. It would sense the locations of both eyes of each viewer, so multiple people could watch from a variety of angles.

The goal of the technology they've cooked up is "inexpensive auto-stereoscopic 3D displays that allow the observer complete and unencumbered freedom of movement", according to the patent application the Patent Office granted yesterday. In other words, 3D displays should have no need for special glasses, and viewers shouldn't be limited by viewing angle, or be forced to sit and not move in order to see the 3D effect.

Interestingly, the patent breaks down why they think current offerings for glasses-free 3D aren't good enough, including parallax barrier, volumetric and hologram.

A parallax barrier display, which is what is used in some auto-stereoscopic phones and the Nintendo 3DS, uses one liquid crystal display layered under another. Each has tiny stripes that will hide certain pixels so that some are only visible to your left eye, while others will only be seen by your right eye. In that way, each eye gets its own image, producing the illusion of 3D without the need for glasses.

Toshiba and Sharp both have prototype glasses-less 3D TVs and expect to begin selling them in Japan by the end of the year. Toshiba's method is to use a fast, powerful processor to take a 2D image and simultaneously create nine images of it from nine different directions, in real time, and display it on a high-definition LED TV.

Apple says those aren't good enough because of the processing power needed for the hologram style of Toshiba and Sharp, and the limits on movement or more than one viewer with parallax. "A need still remains for highly effective, practical, efficient, uncomplicated and inexpensive auto-stereoscopic 3D displays that allow the observer complete and unencumbered freedom of movement," the patent application reads.

Of course, like any patent, this doesn't mean we should expect an Apple-branded 3D projector anytime soon. The original patent was applied for in 2006, and these are the kinds of technologies that tech companies like to keep in their back pocket, just in case.

When can we expect affordable glassless 3D plasmas? I know the obvious answer from everyone is years away, but 3dtvs arent selling as well as expected. The manufacturers know that the reason is because of the glasses. They might ramp up R&D to get glassless tvs out sooner than expected.

I am buying a new tv very soon, either the VX 300 or the Vt40. I am just worried that by buying now would be a bad decision. I dont want to buy a new tv and 2-3 years later glassless 3d being the new standard. How long can we expect before glassless 3d arrives at affordable prices for plasmas?

If you wait for the next best thing, you'll always be waiting. If you're ready for a new TV, choose from those available today. If you're not ready, wait until you are, and buy whatever is available at the time.

If you wait for the next best thing, you'll always be waiting. If you're ready for a new TV, choose from those available today. If you're not ready, wait until you are, and buy whatever is available at the time.

I agree partially with this sentiment, although I would not recommend buying a TV today if I had very good reason to believe that something radically better was coming out next year. I don't expect that to be the case here though.

I agree partially with this sentiment, although I would not recommend buying a TV today if I had very good reason to believe that something radically better was coming out next year. I don't expect that to be the case here though.

I would qualify this if the OP's research/shopping leads to leaning toward a passive 3d TV. If so, I would wait for the RDZ tech coming out next year, which will bring full resolution 3d to passive glasses.

Sense the location of the eyes of each viewer in real time? Are they allowed to patent vaporware?

The majority of tech patents ARE vaporware.
Where do you think the term "patent troll" developed? Most folks thinks up a grand idea, patent it with no way of producing it & then sit back & hope to become rich when someone else actually figures out HOW to put their "technology" into production (or even make it work).

The Toshiba glasses free TV's have been out here in Japan almost 8 months now. They are crap and the 3D is horrible. Wait... There is NO 3D on them, they look like 2D TV's with a messed up blurry picture.
Gonna be a few years before you see better.

I agree partially with this sentiment, although I would not recommend buying a TV today if I had very good reason to believe that something radically better was coming out next year. I don't expect that to be the case here though.

Thats my point. There will always be something "better" coming out next year. That's how manufacturers sell products.

The OP asked the right question - When will these cool displays be affordable? They already exist, but they require expensive tech. In the case of that Dolby system, a quad HD resolution display is necessary. How long before quad HD displays become affordable? If we look back to the prices of 1080p ("Full HD") displays, they were out of my affordability range for more than 5 years after they entered the market, so I made due with 720p while I waited. As of right now, people are looking for when dual HD resolution displays might become available to consumers. Then we'll have to wait for them to double that to quad HD - another generation of tech - and then wait for it to become affordable to mere mortals. My prediction is at least 10 years before a glassessless good quality display 50" or larger falls below $3,000 in cost. It will be sooner for smaller size displays, of course.

The OP asked the right question - When will these cool displays be affordable? They already exist, but they require expensive tech. In the case of that Dolby system, a quad HD resolution display is necessary. How long before quad HD displays become affordable? If we look back to the prices of 1080p ("Full HD") displays, they were out of my affordability range for more than 5 years after they entered the market, so I made due with 720p while I waited. As of right now, people are looking for when dual HD resolution displays might become available to consumers. Then we'll have to wait for them to double that to quad HD - another generation of tech - and then wait for it to become affordable to mere mortals. My prediction is at least 10 years before a glassessless good quality display 50" or larger falls below $3,000 in cost. It will be sooner for smaller size displays, of course.

I guess 2015.
[remember: you said "good"]

"I wonder if any of the releases had slipcovers though.""Are these comfirmed to have slipcovers?""They look nice in those slips.""This slipcover looks too good to pass up."